NFL Week 15: Mike Phipps' late delivery

Oh please.

When Ricky Ray played in the United States, he was a college QB at tiny little Sacramento State, which is non-Division 1 school not even remotely close to the same planet of college football we've been talking about here. He was undrafted, tried out for the Niners, but was cut in training camp. Appears he also later was briefly on Jets roster for a couple games, but never threw a single pass or, as far as I can tell, got in for a single play.

Anthony Calvillo played his college ball at mid-major Utah State, was undrafted, and has never made an NFL roster.

Sounds to me like these guys, in the U.S., were nowhere close to the level of top flight college QB talent that gets drafted into the NFL each year. And I SERIOUSLY doubt that the defenses at Alabama, Notre Dame, LSU, Florida, etc. would be quaking at the notion of having to face Ricky Ray or Anthony Calvillo.

I think perhaps you might be the one here who doesn't understand quite how good top tier U.S. college football is.

 

Exactly.

 

There are NO slow footed RB, LB or DBs in the NFL. Are you kidding? Do you honestly think CFL speed position players are faster than the NFL variety? Good god, JR, I thought you were smarter than this.

 

This is becoming tiresome.

I'm going to have breakfast on Saturday with someone who's actually played in the CFL. And since he probably knows as much as anyone around here about the differences between the two leagues, I'll ask him three questions:

1) Could Tebow be a a dominate CFL QB?
2) Could the Jets beat the best CFL team under CFL rules?
3) Could Alabama beat any CFL team under CFL rules?

I'll get back to you with his take. And if he says yes to all of the above, I'll hang my head in shame.

 

Make sure to ask him if he ever played with 2-3 DOZEN players who are headed to the NFL as Alabama's roster contains.

 

Well, Ricky Ray and Anthony Calvillo have a lot of experience under their belts, too. So that counts for something.

I can't remember what the import ratio for CFL teams is, but there are a LOT of NCAA players on CFL rosters. And not always the ones you might expect. Like Darian Durant, who played at North Carolina. Decent player, not a star by any stretch. Or Travis Lulay, from FCS Montana State, who starts for BC now. (Great guy, did a story on him two years ago.)

And, yes, for those who may not know, CFL teams monitor NFL training camps and a handful of guys sign with CFL teams after getting cut in NFL training camps.

Of course, the NFL pays the big bucks and is always going to get the best players. But the CFL ain't chopped liver. It's fun entertainment at a reasonable price and good competition.

 

I answer yes to all those questions, if you give the players three to six months to adjust to the rules.

 

Because a former CFL player wouldn't be biased at all on the subject. :

 

I really wish the Jets would have given Tebow 3-4 starts this season just to see what would have happened. Until he loses, he is still a winning NFL, college and high school QB. No matter how it looks, he wins, and there is a long, long, long list of highly drafted NFL QBs who never started and had their team win five or more NFL games and a playoff game.

 

Williams ran for 526 yards on 109 carries in 11 games. He got hurt a few times.

Doesn't sound like a flop to me.

 

His team won last year, more often then not carrying him and overcoming his failings than relying on his production. See what that team is doing with a real quarterback this year.

 

There's a 17 year old right now that could be playing in the NBA, IMO. His name is Andrew Wiggins.